Midnight
by WingedWolf121
Summary: Hunith/Balinor, Merlin/Arthur. He catches her eye when she's gathering water for her brother. From this springs love, from which springs heartbreak, from which springs a child. And from Merlin, comes even more. The story of Hunith and Balinor.


Disclaimer: If I owned Merlin, I would have had Merlin and Arthur making out by now. Seriously, they would have been at it in the pilot.

A/N: I actually kind of like this fic. Even if it more like 7 or 8 drabbles all linked together.

She's only in Camelot for a week, visiting with her older brother to help with his duties during a bad summer. She's hauling him back a bucket of water to help clean a wound, so she's going through the courtyard.

He catches her eye instantly. A handsome man, with raven black hair and startlingly blue eyes, dressed in rich clothing. He looks right at her, and grins. She blushes and hurries to the physicians quarters.

"Why are so in such a good mood?" He asks as soon as the patient is gone. She goes red and busies herself with organizing his books. "Hunith…"

Hunith blushes even deeper and stutters out that she's just pleased that he's doing so well. Gaius raises an eyebrow and harumphs, just like their father. It sends her into a giggling fit, and he can only shake his head in bewilderment.

Later that day, a patient comes in. Gaius is out, but Hunith knows a bit of healing and comes out from the books with a cheerful smile, gesturing for him to sit. Then she freezes.

It's the man. The handsome man, from earlier.

"Ah. I'm glad I wasn't wrong about where the prettiest girl in Camelot lives." Hunith blushes.

"Let me see that arm." She touches the torn sleeve, and frowns at him.

"There's no wound, the sleeve is just torn." He smiles at her charmingly.

"I just wanted an excuse to meet you. My name is Balinor." Hunith flushes, seeing as no man has ever faked a wound just to meet her. And knowing Gaius's temper, it was a serious risk on his life.

"I'm Hunith. I live in Ealdor." He smiles winningly, and Hunith's heart melts.

"I'm here with the Dragonlord party, as it's head." A noble, and calling her pretty! She's just a sheltered girl, and Balinor is as besotted with her as she is with him.

But life goes on, and Hunith must return to Ealdor to care for her parents. They're very old, and Gaius is busy in Camelot. Balinor kisses her goodbye, and promises they'll see each other again.

Hunith never marries, and a year passes by. Her parents die, and Gaius misses their funeral. Life becomes more difficult, as a single woman trying to eke run her own life. But people in Ealdor are kind, and what she doesn't have someone always chips in for.

Then the reports of Camelot come. A Prince is born, and all magic is being persecuted. She doesn't know the whole story, but she fears for Balinor.

**Merlin**

Gaius watches as his friends burn. He can stand this, even as tiny children scream for their parents and Uther kills them as well. It can't get worse, and he will weather this storm out, safe in the king's favor.

Then Uther calls for the dragonlords. Gaius watches as they all come in, and as they kill their own dragons. Uther tears his way through the women they are married to, and Gaius barely manages to watch as their children are executed.

One day, Uther even asks him if he wants dragon eggs for dinner. Gaius restrains from exploding, and thanks the lord that Hunith is not there. And that Balinor is far away.

But finally Uther works his way through all the dragonlords but Balinor, then calls for Balinor to come to Camelot.

A peace talk. Gaius doesn't fall for that for a second. He knows Uther too well.

But the man is terrified. He may have given up magic, but that doesn't guarantee him immunity from Uther's rage, which is half madness. So he doesn't send a messenger to warn Balinor, praying that the man will know not to come.

Balinor comes, and calls a dragon. The last dragon, Balinor swears.

As soon as the beast is below the castle, chained and shaking the castle with roars of rage, Balinor is in the dungeons. He looks to Gaius as he is hauled away, eyes pleading. Gaius looks away.

But the blue eyes burn into his heart. What would Hunith say to him if he let her love die? Gaius knows he's always let her down. Leaving her to fend for herself while he lives in the king's favor, and not even going back to Ealdor for their parents' funeral?

He cannot let her down this time. He's betrayed his own people, his friends. He won't betray his family as well.

So Gaius sprinkles a bit of an interesting powder on the guard's food. No one will be able to tell they were drugged, that's his job. Uther doesn't ever suspect him of lying.

Gaius hurries down to Balinor's cell, and takes the keys from the guard slumped outside the door. Balinor is running down the corridor in a split section, snarling in rage against Uther.

"Balinor!" Gaius hisses. "He will kill you! Come, quickly." Gaius leads the man back, down to a secret door. Two horses wait outside.

"Where are we going?" Balinor asks, once they are already galloping away.

"Ealdor."

**Merlin**

It is midnight when her older brother knocks on her door. Hunith opens it in quiet puzzlement, gasping softly at him and the man next to him.

"Balinor!" She flings herself into his arms, and he buries his face in her tawny hair. "I was so afraid…"

"Shh…I'm here." Hunith extricates herself and embraces Gaius, whispering thank you a thousand times over in his ear.

"I must return to Camelot. Balinor, this is outside Uther's kingdom. You'll be safe here." Hunith leans into Balinor's shoulder, and he wraps an arm around her. Gaius eyes them, and mumbles something about already regretting this.

They spend the night lovemaking. By morning, Balinor has forgotten about vengeance and hatred and his dead kindred, and is busy trying to cook.

Ealdor accepts him easily. The women are pleased that Hunith finally landed herself a husband, especially such a handsome one. They hope soon to have another child to watch over. The men are glad that Hunith, so well liked, will have someone to look after her.

Balinor doesn't disappoint. He's polite and friendly, and does his fair share in the fields every day. Every night is full of wild love and there is no doubt a pregnancy is on the way.

It's too good to last.

**Merlin**

Hunith is in her kitchen, and Balinor is out fixing a villager's wagon. Mary, a friend of Hunith's, races into the kitchen, her face pale. "Soldiers!"

Hunith pokes her head out a window, and sees the red and gold of Camelot. She knows instantly that they're here for Balinor. In the center is a good looking man with a crown, and she hears him yelling for them to search the village.

She flies to Balinor's side. "Uther."

Balinor's eyes are full of shock. "He can't be! This isn't in his kingdom, they're asking for war by coming here!"

"Run! Saddle a horse, I'll grab our things!" Balinor shakes his head and grabs her hand. He his heart.

"No, Hunith. You stay." Hunith cries out. "Come with me, and you'll live a life of running. I'll end up in a cave somewhere. You deserve better." Balinor kisses her a last time, and bolts for the forest.

Hunith runs back to her cottage, and tries to appear unsuspicious even as tears roll down her cheeks. She frantically puts things away, hoping not to show that she lives with a man. Uther is yelling for the men to be gathered.

A knight bursts into her cottage. He's tall, with light brown hair and the brightness of youth still on his face. Hunith screams involuntarily. Then she realizes that there is still a carving of a dragon on her counter.

His eyes light on it immediately. It is far too detailed to come from anyone who hasn't seen a dragon personally, and no villager of Ealdor comes so close to magic.

Hunith won't plead. She knows what happens to women who have made love to a Dragonlord, or even are suspected to have. She braces herself, and inside she apologizes to Gaius.

He doesn't draw his sword. His eyes linger on her tearstained face, and the knight turns away. Hunith stares in disbelief as he goes back out, and she hears him report.

"She's not his, she's unmarried." Hunith slumps against the wall, and looks out the window. A merlin has settled on her windowsill.

They go past Ealdor, once the villagers have convinced the king that Balinor fled when he heard them coming. But the knights trampled the fields and the years harvest is poor.

Hunith never regains her old popularity.

**Merlin**

She cries when she finds out she is with child. Cries and cries, sobbing onto Mary's shoulder. Her friend, also bearing a child, tries to comfort her.

There isn't much she can say. A woman and a child, trying to eke out an existence in such a poor village, they are guaranteed to starve in the winter. Mary strokes Hunith's hair and tells her it will be alright, and neither believes the lie.

She writes to Gaius. Maybe he will come home, be the man of the family. He does not, and Hunith burns his polite letter. She won't remarry, not while there is the tiniest chance of Balinor being alive.

Besides, no one is offering. Hunith isn't so popular nowadays, and her looks have faded. It may have only been a few months since Balinor came to the village, but a broken heart doesn't wear well on Hunith. She ages quickly.

Then the little boy is born. Hunith holds him, and stares into the most brilliant pair of blue eyes she has seen a long while. He giggles and Hunith calls him Merlin. She swears they will survive the winter.

They survive, barely. Hunith is shocked at the boy-he's skinny and not very strong, yet he still lives when other, better fed children die in their sleep. She can feel the burning glares of other women whose children died, and ducks her head.

But Mary is happy for her, exultant that both Will and Merlin lived. Hunith smiles, and wonders.

But on the first day of spring, when Merlin is in his cradle while Hunith painstakingly works her garden, she finds out why.

Hunith shrieks as rain soaks her. She doesn't want Merlin to catch cold and doesn't want to soak her clothing-this is her only dress left after the winter.

Merlin senses her displeasure, and his eyes go a radiant gold. The clouds above Hunith clear, and her clothes are suddenly dry. Hunith wheels around and sees her boy doing the same thing which got thousands slaughtered.

And her last hope of normalcy dies.

**Merlin**

Gaius can't believe it when the boy shows up in his quarters and saves his life. Gaius used to be fair at magic, and he could never do it by instinct. The only one who had any of that type of power was Nimueh.

Then he learns that this is his nephew. He can't report the boy, not that he would've. But now he has a duty to Hunith to protect him.

To his surprise, Gaius quickly becomes fond of Merlin. In a few weeks, he realizes that he loves the boy like a son. Merlin is all of the best of Hunith-caring, compassionate, always ready to help. And the best of Balinor-talented, cheerful, unafraid. Gaius even fancies he sees a bit of himself-just in Merlin's loyalty to Arthur.

Gaius takes awhile to fully comprehend the loyalty. He is amazed when Merlin is ready to sacrifice his life for Arthur's. He is even more amazed when he sees Merlin take the power of life and death in his own hands, passing judgment on Nimueh with cold fury.

But what truly stops him in his tracks isn't that. It is the sight of _Prince Arthur Pendragon,_ who doesn't see him because he's too busy kissing Merlin. Thinking back he should have known it, but Gaius wasn't thinking of either in _those_ terms.

He doesn't need the gift of prophecy to see what will happen. Merlin will tell Arthur of his magic, and the prince will tell Uther. Even if that isn't the case, Uther will execute Merlin the second he finds out about this love affair.

"Merlin, you must stop this." Merlin looks up from his meal, eyes suddenly frightened.

"No." It's complete defiance. And yes Merlin has refused to do as he says before now, but never this openly. And never has he not even pretended to take Gaius's advice.

"Merlin!" Merlin rises, his eyes flashing gold. He contains the magic, but Gaius remembers that instinctive way Merlin could use his power. Never before has Gaius feared his own ward.

"I'm sorry." Merlin's voice is so sad, so scared of himself. "I've got to go."

He will go to Arthur.

**Merlin**

It is midnight when Hunith opens her door, wondering who on earth would be at her door. It's Merlin, his face too pale and his eyes too bloodshot.

"Merlin!" She reaches up and hugs him. Merlin embraces her very tightly. "What happened?"

Merlin sits at the table and stares at nothing, then speaks bluntly. "Balinor is dead."

The ground sways beneath Hunith's feet, and she sinks into the other chair. A thousand memories of him swim through her head, all worthless. "How?"

"Kilgharrah attacked Camelot. We needed a Dragonlord to stop him." Merlin's voice is unlike him, almost completely void of emotion. "He was killed returning to Camelot with Arthur and I."

Hunith puts her head on her arms, and tries desperately not to cry. Some part of her always thought Balinor would come back, and she could run away with him like they were young again, and start a life where she would be prosperous and Merlin would have a teacher.

"Oh." It's all she can choke out.

"Why did no one tell me?" Merlin's voice contains anger. Hunith supposes that it's justified.

"He was on the run. He wanted our lives to be better than that, and you would have tried to find him." Merlin is silent, and Hunith can feel him thinking it out in his head. "I wanted to tell you, I truly did."

"I believe you." Merlin clasps her hand, and passes her a figurine of a dragon. Hunith cries then, and Merlin holds her.

In an hour, he gets up to leave.

"You don't want to stay longer?" Hunith wants her boy back, just for a little bit.

"Arthur doesn't know I'm gone. I came by dragon." Hunith gasps and raced to the window, to stare at the dragon outside her window. "Relax, no one can see him."

Merlin leaves, and Hunith cries herself to sleep. Balinor…oh my love I miss you.

**Merlin**

"Merlin?" Arthur puts his hand on Merlin's shoulder. Merlin is curled up on his side, not facing Arthur. He heard him slip back in a few minutes ago. "Merlin, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." The reply is muffled by blankets. "Go back to sleep."

Arthur pulls Merlin into his arms, and nuzzles his neck. "You won't get rid of me so easily."

"I'm the last Dragonlord, and I've got magic." Arthur is completely still. In all this time he's been sleeping with Merlin, _loving_ Merlin, the man never thought to tell him he had magic? And now of all times, not even looking at him? "Are you going to cut my head off?"

The answer is as plain as the fear in Merlin's voice. Arthur would die rather than see Merlin come to pain. And a court sorcerer will be useful when he's king.

"I love you." If Merlin chooses to be blunt and honest, so will he. Arthur's never said that before, no matter how much he's thought it.

Merlin rolls over, and faces Arthur with those beautiful blue eyes glowing. "You mean that?"

"Of course, idiot. Would I say it if I didn't?" Merlin laughs then, and kisses Arthur.

"I love you too, prat."

And they live on. Uther dies, and magic returns to Camelot. Hunith smiles sadly as she sees that she isn't the only one to be besotted with blue eyes, and Gaius shakes his head incredulously at Merlin pulling it off.

Far off, in another world, Balinor beams.

**Merlin**

This was…really random. I had the urge to write something about Balinor and Hunith, and it somehow turned into Merthur. Oh well, all roads leads to Merthur in this fandom.

Oh, and virtual chocolate pecan pie for anyone who guesses the mystery knight.


End file.
